Hours after officially announcing the signing of defensive end Cliff Avril on Thursday, the Seattle Seahawks showed they weren’t done addressing the team’s pass rush issues as reports surfaced defensive lineman Michael Bennett was headed back to Seattle

The 27-year-old free agent spent the past four seasons plying his trade for Tampa Bay, leading the Bucs in sacks with nine in 2012.

Bennett visited Miami on Thursday, but agreed to a reported one-year, $5-million deal and is expected to sign with the team Friday after passing a physical.

An undrafted rookie free agent for the Seahawks in 2009, Bennett earned a roster spot with a productive preseason, but was surprisingly cut in Oct. and claimed on waivers by Tampa Bay.

At 6-foot-4 and 274 pounds, Bennett is a likely replacement for Jason Jones, who signed with Detroit in free agency. Bennett can rush the passer from the defensive tackle position on passing downs, and also serves as depth behind starting defensive end Red Bryant.

Hours before news broke about the Bennett deal, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider raved about Avril’s versatility as an edge rusher during a conference call with reporters. Both said that Seattle’s new defensive end has the ability to drop in coverage from his playing days as a linebacker at Purdue.

“I chose Seattle because I like what I’ve seen on defense, I like what I’ve seen as a team,” Avril said during a conference call. “I played against them last year also so I knew what they had — a bunch of young guys that seem to love the game of football and that goes out and plays hard. I got the opportunity and I took it.”

Schneider remarked that what makes Avril unique is his ability to rush from the left side of the defense, and also his ability to work his way back to the quarterback after a speed rush.

“The guy is a high-effort player,” Schneider said. “He can come at you underneath, outside. He’s got a real nice change of direction skills and abilities, flexible hips and a very nice ability to work his way back to the quarterback once he gets up-field like the better, faster speed rushers are able to do.”

When asked how Avril’s arrival affects Chris Clemons coming off of ACL knee surgery, Carroll said the team doesn’t want to rush its leading sacker back before he’s ready.

“He’s making a great recovery,” Carroll said. “We’re definitely not going to rush Chris in any way. We want to bring him back and not play him until he’s perfectly healthy and ready to go. (The Avril deal) doesn’t affect him at all. Chris is a premier player for us, and we expect him to come roaring back. And we just want to make sure that the urgency isn’t such that we rush is rehab. And so that’s a top priority for us.

“But he feels that he has a chance to make it back at the start of the year. We’ll find out. And we’ll keep our fingers crossed on that.”

Carroll said that the team will use three edge rushers in Avril, Clemons and Bruce Irvin on third down and in different sub packages.

“We’re going to mix the play of these guys to keep them fresh and keep them strong,” Carroll said. “And really keep the tempo of our pass rush at a peak — that’s really important to us.”

With Bennett, Avril and Percy Harvin in the fold, Schneider said the Seahawks now will focus on securing their own free agents, which include defensive tackle Alan Branch, linebacker Leroy Hill, cornerback Marcus Trufant, kicker Steven Hauschka and offensive lineman Frank Omiyale.

“We really wanted to help our pass rush as much as we possibly could,” Schneider said. “After that, really we’ll just kind of focus on our own guys and see what comes next, see what’s down the line.”

Also

Two days after the Seattle Seahawks released him, return man Leon Washington found a new home, signing a one-year deal with the New England Patriots in free agency. Washington said he had interest from Tampa Bay as a possible trade partner with Seattle before his release, but opted for a trip to New England once the Seahawks let him go. Washington is tied with Josh Cribbs for the most kickoff returns in NFL history with eight.